Batting tees are used by baseball players to practice hitting baseballs held at various positions within or near the strike zone. By using a batting tee to practice hitting a stationary ball, players can improve their batting swings and learn to hit balls from various locations within and near the strike zone. If the player swings the bat too low, as often happens, the bat hits the tee. The batting tee is consequently subjected to repeated impacts by the bat, which may damage the batting tee. The batting tee may also tip over when hit with a bat. This interrupts the batting practice since the user must then pick up and reset the batting tee. The batting tee should also be easily portable and quick to set up and take down. It should also be adjustable to hold the ball over a range of desired heights.
Various batting tees have been proposed in the past. Generally these batting tees have a flat base or plate, an adjustable length post on the plate, and a ball holder at the top end of the post. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,691, U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,987 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,163. While these and other designs may have met with varying degrees of success, certain disadvantages remain, including a tendency of batting tees to fall over, come apart, or sustain damage when hit with a bat. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved batting tee.